be going over to solid state. this is not your standard selector. it does not have a tape that runs it. because these are outside elevators -- these are unique to the city. >> and this is going away with the upgrade. >> that is right. none of these will be here. we have retrofitted three elevators so far and now we're doing the outside cars. >> so this is what will be replacing -- >> this will be replacing the generator controller and control system. we are down to about 15 or 20 relays, down from about 100, which means much less maintenance. this thing had been running for about six months now, but we still have eight cars here to do. >> great job.

>> we have looked at past the elevators and present. now let's look at the future. we are taking a look at some of the most exciting technologies in elevators. george, tell us about destination elevators. >> this is the technology of the future. probably the biggest single investment in elevators. san francisco has embraced the technology more than any other city in the country. a big advantage with us is passengers get to their floors sooner and there is more opportunity of customization of features for individual service. four issues of security and

accessibility, this is a big advantage over traditional elevators. digest i understand these are rehabilitated upgrades of existing elevators? >> yes, these are upgrades to the original elevators from 1980. all the controls and wiring has changed but the physical mechanisms are the same. >> how much energy to these use? >> with all of the things that we did hear, energy savings is about 50% from where we started. that is a significant improvement for such a major system. >> tell me how it works. >> this is the hall keypad, which controls the elevator. the system asks where you are going before you get into the elevator. imagine you are going into the airport.

you would not get on the first airplane departing, you would get on the airplane that is going to the city you are going. we are doing the same here. in this case, we are going to the ninth floor. this building has security, so i also have an access card, which gives us permission, and then we go to the assigned elevator, which is elevator a. >> and this is only stopping at floors 4 and 9. i do not see any buttons in here at all, except for the door and the alarm. >> we only have the standard buttons required by code and safety, but there is no need to have floor numbers anymore. >> and it does not make a lot of stops. it goes to your floor and everyone else. >> the system it efficiency,

because we do not have to make as many stops, is a big improvement. >> we have invited jessie from the center for independent living to come and tell us how destination elevators interfaced with persons with disabilities. >> when destination elevators storfirst started appearing, thy presented a number of challenges to individuals with disabilities. what happened was, elevator technology outpaced california building code. building code has a number a provision that makes traditional elevators usable by people with disabilities, but destination elevators presented challenges, particularly with cited. how do you know to get from this keypad to your our corporate car?

>> we had a terrific program where we develop and administer the bulletin, which your help, elevator companies, involvement from the public, and you can tell us the outcome of that. >> what is amazing about the process is we had both government and private industry, as well as people with disabilities at the table for three years creating these accessibility standards. what we are doing here is being looked at by the department of justice access board and state architect's office. that is how good our standards are. would you like to see? i am going to push the access key which will activate the voice. i want to go to floor 24. ok, to the left. >> elevator j has arrived.

>> that was smooth. >> i am getting a text message. it is amazing, these destination elevators. pretty soon, the signal that changes the system will be able to be routed through blue tooth and your phone, which is amazing. my iphone will be able to access the controls. in paris already, they are rounding the pedestrian signals through blue tooth and into people's phones. so the future is really exciting and technology will make it quite a journey for everybody. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me.

>> so now i would like to introduce the chief engineer. can you tell us about your experience? >> there were a lot of anticipation about how people would respond. at first, we had to get in front of people to direct them from their habits. early morning, they are more into carrying their coffee and going inside of the elevator and then spilling their coffee to hit the keys. we got right in front of them, stopped them and told them exactly what they had to do. that helped out a lot. the other thing that helped were the lights in the lobby would tell them where the elevator was. a lot of these systems have not done that. we were the first to do that.

the nice thing is we've got less spills in the lobby, too. you get into the elevator in the morning, and somebody is standing in front of the buttons and you cannot get to it. people are fighting each other, spilling coffee and stuff, so this works out well. once you get inside, you are going to the floor that you have already decided on the outside. it really helped traffic flow and security as well. >> would you say your experience has been a good one? >> excellent. very positive. >> let's go on a tour.

>> here we have the network control. there are two groups here. in case one fails. there is automatic redundancy. each of these cables connect to each device and communicates with the main global server. the previous equipment was a relay control, and it was analog logic. this has many advantages in that it can be custom program to and can readjust to changes. it can do a multitude of things,

like the lights blinking in the lobby. those are all programs that can be controlled by this equipment. before, this room was filled relay panels collect -- that clicked. they had had a big rotator that told the person or the elevator was. we can level these cars with an 1 millimeter. it used to vary on the temperature by up to half an inch. that caused tripping hazards. now you walk out and it is a smooth transition. it is important for the disabled as well. over here is the controller. but this does is it provides information to the elevator where to go. receives commands from within the elevator and from the destination dispatched central

-- dispatched central. these elevators are precisely the electronic breaks, so they need to be very precise. in accordance with the vfd to supply power to the elevator motor, which is right here. these are original d.c. drives. d.c. was in place at the beginning of elevators. it was easier to control. currently, new elevators are ac drives. but they are so expensive to replace and waste of materials. we have made it more efficient by providing aid to the electrical system to drive it. this is controlled by the same transistor that controls the toyota prius. when the elevator is empty, the counterweight polls the elevator and it generates electricity by breaking.

the same thing as in your toyota creosote or another hybrid car. -- prius or another hybrid car. here inside we have the ibtv drive. this is important for landing of the elevator. also, acceleration and deceleration, if there is instability in a car, can be reduced. >> so we have taken a ride in an antique elevator. >> this was an elevator built in 1913. >> we have checked out current elevator technology. >> these were installed in 1972, outside observation elevators.

>> it is not standard because there is no tape that runs it. but shane we have seen the future of the elevator technology. >> i am going to push the access key which will access the voice. >> this has precise generation of power, which is important for highly acrilan the landing of the elevator. >> what happens next week and not know but it will be exciting. thank you for showing us this interesting technology. >>

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